My one day trek to Shivagange Hills | Perfect day trip from Bangalore

My trip to shivagange hills

Shivagange Trek Bull at the Peek

It was calm Saturday, when I came back from school. I was chilling when my mom had an idea.

It had been a long time since we had been trekking. So, she thought of visiting a place called ‘Shivagange’.  We were a little lazy, but the idea was not bad. It took us some time to decide, finally coming to the conclusion to visit the beautiful hills of Shivagange.

The next morning was cold Sunday,19-1-2019,our planned day. We thought of going early in the morning and coming back by lunch. So my mom woke up at somewhat 5 in the morning and prepared breakfast. Unlike them, I woke up at around 6 o clock. It took us almost an hour to leave.

We left around 7:20. It was warm and cozy at the back seat but I was attracted by the nature around me. The morning fog filled the air like a cup filled with hot coffee, the dark sky, birds chirping, and the emptiness in the road, the bright tube lights and so many animals! I could hardly see a thing because of the mist.

Shivagange is a trekking place where it is a huge rock that we have to climb. Which is famous for Lord Shiva’s temple, where miracle happens, When then complete rock climbing, another temple of lord Shiva too. The special thing is the ‘Olakal Teertha’

It was almost that we had reached there, unfortunately our car tyre got puncture. The place was in sight, but we had to stop. Luckily, we had a spare tyre and the material required to replace. It took us around 20 minutes to fix it, and started again.

First, we went to park our beloved car in search of the car parking. There is huge place to park cars and buses, we parked, washed our hands and were ready to start our awesome trek.

There were two ways to enter. We entered through the big magnificent gate. The lane was a little muddy, but still fun. 

Steps to Temple

After a few steps, we entered the place where a flight of steps was waiting for us. We took out our shoes before entering. (That was a mistake as shoes are allowed till the main door)  after temple you have to climb further a lot, without shoes it is difficult to climb.

Before we even climbed five steps, my mom (who is an awesome photographer) clicked many cute, silly and interesting pictures. 

We started climbing… In the time we had at least climbed more than 100 steps that at the left of us was a big carving of Lord Ganesha. For me, his eyes was very attractive, silverish and a tiny little dot in the middle.

After a while, we entered the temple named ‘Sri Honnammadevi temple’. It was in a cave. We had to bend our head to enter (actually, I hurt my head badly by not bending )

Honnamma devi in the Cave

Inside, it was calm & beautiful. There was no one other than us. The goddess was gorgeous. Actually, you are not allowed to take pictures there. As we were the only people, they allowed us to have a few snaps. 

After we came out, we started our long stairs all again. For me, it felt that there were more than a 1000 steps ahead. Soon, the entrance of the “Gangadhareshwara temple” was in sight. A few minutes later, we stepped inside the temple.

There were many stalls inside. First, we thought of having a look of this place. Here, in this temple, an interesting miracle happens. There is a Shiva linga where pure ghee turns back into butter which is visually impossible! (reverse engineering) This happens when they pour liters of ghee on the linga. You can see this in the Abhisheka. This is been happening from 1600 years, it is a miracle.

We could not see anything from the back. We came front for the Archane. After we came out, we sat in a place where there were many lamps surrounding a Nandi.

Actually, next to the temple entrance was a way to start the hill climbing. There was a steep hill ahead and we had left our shoes down down below from where we started climbing. 

OHH GOD!! I felt as if I was stuck in middle a prickling thorns and endless steps. The thing that made me angry is that there was a place to keep our shoes near the temple! but those shops keepers fooled us to keep them down.

Who would climb down these steps, wear the shoes, and again climb up?! Finally, my father went down and brought our shoes up. 

While the time he had gone down, we(me & my mother) noticed that they were doing the …….. Abhisheka. Afterwards, we again went in to see the miracle(sadly, because of the crowd, we could not see it properly)

Bull on the way to hill

After we came out, we wore our shoes and entered our climbing destination. While climbing, I got to know about the place ‘Olakal Teertha’.  It is actually a hole in a huge rock where we get pure water. 
They say that only the blessed ones get to feel and touch the cold water.  While climbing to olakal theertha we saw a big Nandi entrance and steps carved on rocks which we have to climb. We rested for a while and continued.

 In the first, it was very interesting for me. But so, as it got steeper and steeper, it was a little tiring. 

The more we climbed the more tough it became. I was exhausted. It was a terror for me that we had not even climbed the half of our target!! Of!

There were many stalls when we were climbing like ice cream, juice, chocolates and water bottles. Very soon, climbing after an unstoppable spirit in us(we were filled with exhaustion), we had finally reached “Olakal theertha!!” 

After sitting for a while, we removed our shoes and formed a line to enter. I was filled with excitement and enthusiasm. Will I be able to touch the water?!First we made a line and entered slowly. The entry fee was 5 rupees. There was a long q and it was in a mysterious cave. 

We had to enter by the steps. Be careful while moving, you can hurt your head.

When we entered the cave, it came out to be a hidden temple. The line stretched longer than an anaconda! 

It was a Veerabhadraswami temple. There were people surrounding the God that it was invisible from far. Slowly, the line was moving like a tortoise. Very soon, we were very close to enter the circling cave(actually, the God was surrounded by another cave) from one side pilgrims entered, and from another side they came out. Some happy and some dippressed!

At first, it feels a little claustrophobic, but it is really interesting. Slowly, we were near the water. The family ahead of us was trying to catch the water. But only very few got to feel it. So it is real!! 

It was now our turn. First, my mom tried and she got it. She felt it on the tip of her fingers. After her my dad tried. He too got the same. Now, it was me. I sat down, put my hand in the hole till my shoulder and….

…I too got it!!!! It was cold, crystal clear water. !!
And you know what!? I got so much of water that I could grab it and throw it in the air!! My full palm could feel the water!! I got the most. No one could be more happier than me at that moment.

After that, we got to see the god at last. While going back too, we had to make a line. But this time, the line moved faster. At last! Our first aim was successful!

We wore our shoes and at our right side, there was a way to continue climbing. But before that, we took a few pictures with the scenery. We started climbing the half-trimmed stone steps. They were carved like in Antaragange and Ramanagar. It took us a lot of time to climb.

 The miracle was that after I touched the waters in the cave, I never got tired!! Even my parents were full of energy. So, we did not stop. After climbing and climbing, we saw a gigantic statue of lord Shiva and Devi Parvati. We had reached the ‘Jyothirlinga Temple’.

While climbing, we thought we would not be able to climb till the top and thought of stopping. But we entered the temple with great pleasure. It was also a small cave like structure. Inside, it had many varieties of lingas. 

We went around a circle and there was a person sitting there. In front of him was a strange linga. Instead of having one big head, it had small three heads covered merely in water. 

Mid stop Jyotirlinga Shivagange

He told us that by keeping our hand on it, it would give us blessings. After that, we sat for a while outside and calmed ourselves. Then we decided that we will climb till the top! It was a commitment.

Then we climbed again and sat for ten minutes. After a while, our water bottles were empty. Ahead, there was a shop, we thought of buying something there. When we reached the shop, I was surprised to see that we had to climb on such a steep valley on snake tracks!!!!

My goodness! It looked scary and exciting too. We were full of josh! After reaching till there, we waited for the crowd to move. Later, we started. It was quiet steep but enthusiastic! We climbed cautiously for an hour. 

Road to Hilltop

While climbing we have to hold metal rods and put steps carefully, there are many ancestors waiting,(monkeys) they approach you if you carry bottles or any food. Be careful!!

 Then, there was a place to sit with few shops around. We only had a few steps ahead to finish these curvy snake tracks, but we were hungry and thirsty. My dad drank curd; I ate bhel puree and rested for a while. 

We wondered how these shops were not attacked by monkeys and we asked the shopkeeper. His answer was so funny… he said because of tiger monkey will not come there!!  then, I was shocked and started searching for tiger!!

 Tiger to scare Monkeys

Hahaha.... then I came to know it was not real tiger its torn tiger softtoy….

Then, another small track started. Now, this was very steep. We had to be careful.

After climbing this, we saw a huge Nandi on top. We thought of climbing there. Oh yes, there are a lot of monkeys. 

The Scary Bull Stone climb on the peak

So be careful with your bags. We climbed on to the Nandi. Actually, it was carved on big stone. It is really scary to see it from the top at the ground. There is very little space. We can just put a round. As I said, the monkeys sit on people’s shoulder too. It was funny. We came down in a nervous way (unlike my dad).

After we climbed down, we saw there were people on the other side. 

That was our final aim. Just a few steps ahead, we climbed too quickly. The last step was filled with excitement, tiredness and commitment! The fresh air washing away our stress and worry, we had reached at the top!!!!!

This was really damalastic(awesome)!! We did it. A human can do anything with commitment and self-confidence. 

There was a small temple here. It was a Shiva temple. After we saw the temple,  place to sit there. The most favorite part for me was the scenary!  It was too good, to explain No words!!. There is a small pillar where on top we can put the coins. It was fun. The cars were so tiny that one of the biggest cars too looked like a baby match box. 

View from the Top and Coin pillar

We stayed there on top for almost an hour.  Some places they have iron rods to protect visitors. But some silly people cross that to take selfie  it is very dangerous.

 One strong gush of wind will make you fall down and your precious life is gone. My dad cautioned some of them saying your mother and father still want you. 

The view from the top was mesmerizing and you can take lots of images. Even I heard that this hill looks from one side like a Linga and from other side it looks like snake and it does look. With wonderful view and super fast air our tiredness vanished. It was already 2:30pm.

Shivagange hills View from top 

We started climbing down. It took us three hours to climb, but it felt that we were climbing down faster than climbing up. While coming back, it was not tiring. We had some snacks like jackfruit and sugarcane juice too. Finally! We were near the temple stairs. We slowly climbed down. There were people still climbing without their shoes. We advised them to wear their shoes as the rocks would be burning hot and there is a long journey ahead.

We reached our car in ten more minutes. My legs were like torn ligaments. We totally walked 10-15 kilometers! But I bet you on ice cream that you will enjoy the most here.

This is how our amazing trek had come to an end.

Now it’s time for us to say goodbye friends.

We will meet soon and it will be another DAMALASTIC adventure!!  Till then keep watching my creative videos.!!

Bye!!     JJJJJJJ

AJ

Things to know!

Distance - 60 kms from Bangalore

Direction - Bangalore to Tumkur road

Things to carry - Water bottle, cap, lots of energy!

Things to avoid - Tight cloth and bags

Map - Bangalore to shivagange

Plz note : At the bottom entrance (before steps starts) shop keepers ask you to keep your shoes, don't do that mistake, you would need them while climbing further, there is place to keep near the temple.